Can Scott Morrison seize this watershed moment for climate policy?

Andrew Hirst, the no-nonsense Liberal Party federal director, had a blunt warning for cabinet ministers who were still swept up in shock of Morrison's May Miracle.

Images of thick smoke blanketing Parliament House have put
 Australia at the centre of a new global debate on climate change.

In the weeks following the Coalition's election victory, Hirst was invited to present his findings about why and how the government had won re-election, face-to-face with 23 men and women in the cabinet room.

The result was largely driven by economic reasons, those seated around the table recall him saying, and the victory should not be misrepresented by any other issue. It had not been a referendum on climate change, as some had billed it.

Hirst - who had a front-row seat during the past decade of the Coalition climate wars as a senior aide to both Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull - told the room global warming remained a significant issue to many voters, especially in inner-city electorates, and the party remained vulnerable on the topic.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Rob Harris - “Can Scott Morrison seize this watershed moment for climate policy?”

Cabinet ministers rejected Turnbull's $1.6 billion plan to cut power bills before leadership implosion

Cabinet ministers rejected a $1.6 billion plan to cut power bills for thousands of Australians in the days before a Liberal Party brawl on energy policy that helped bring down Malcolm Turnbull.

Energy policy and power affordability played a role
in Malcolm Turnbull's demise as prime minister.

Fairfax Media can reveal the Coalition government had drafted plans for a one-off bonus to help pensioners and others in financial stress pay their electricity bills, in a bid to demonstrate stronger action on power prices alongside tougher consumer laws.

Mr Turnbull put the plan to federal cabinet in early August at the same time he was trying to shore up support for the National Energy Guarantee against threats from Tony Abbott and others to cross the floor.

In a crucial decision, cabinet members rejected the plan to lower power bills and left the government without new measures to address household energy costs in the face of the backbench revolt over the NEG.

Read the story from The Age by David Crowe - “Cabinet ministers rejected Turnbull's $1.6 billion plan to cut power bills before leadership implosion.”

Tensions rise inside the Coalition over energy policy

Senior cabinet ministers have offered sharply different public positions over the future of new coal in Australia, as tensions inside the Coalition deepen over energy and climate policy.

Treasurer Scott Morrison rejected calls for the government
to build a new coal-fired power station.

As the Turnbull government applied new pressure on energy giant AGL to keep its ageing Liddell coal-fired power station open beyond its planned closure date, a “ginger group” of Coalition MPs ramped up demands for direct federal investment in a new coal-fired power station, claiming the intervention would lower power bills and plug a potential supply shortfall.

The so-called Monash Forum has caused friction inside the government, with ministers arguing privately the real aim of disgruntled MPs like Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Eric Abetz was to undermine Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s authority as he seeks the agreement of the states and territories for his National Energy Guarantee.

Read Mark Kenny’s story from The Age - “Tensions rise inside the Coalition over energy policy.”